Super Scum

There are a few people who are such evil rats that they should have a special ranking. Newt Gingrich is certainly one. Rarely would Kadizzle cite The Bismarck Fox Tribune, but today Richard Cohen sums up Newt pretty well. In the class of top notch lying scoundrels with hearts of stone Newt is right there. Of course Karl Rove is on the Devil's first team, along with Glenn Beck. Take time to read Cohen's article he does such a good job of painting the whole picture of Newt and his unique ability to do the deeds of evil.

Is Islam a peaceful religion?

Bill Mahers views on Islam

Just sit there and you will get promoted.

Kadizzle has always wondered about the meek. The Bible says the Meek shall inherit the Earth. It could happen. For years Kadizzle has observed that those who just shut up and sit there do very well. Don't make waves has worked well for a lot of people. In the old days when Kadizzle had a job one thing was clear, ideas were not important. If you wanted to get ahead just sit and wait. Being quite and passive was a successful strategy. If you did nothing, you could do nothing wrong. One guy might have two bad ideas and one brilliant idea. The company saw him as a trouble maker. The guy who did nothing never caused a problem, he got the promotion.

In a society with free speech, it is amazing how people are afraid to say anything. All around us are frauds of every sort, but nobody says anything because the fear they may offend someone. The guys on Wall Street can rob the country blind, and have for years, but no one says anything because they don't want to seem anti social. Those who are not meek take advantage of the meek on a daily basis. The meek acquiesce to every kind of injustice because they so fear speaking up. When God said the meek shall inherit the Earth was that a compliment or an insult? I think he was saying "If that is all the better you can do, this is all you get". You have every right in the world to speak up for what you think is right, why don't you do it?

A Jihad with West River Telecommunications

Our local phone company is a hornet's nest of hypocrisy. The Republicans have taken it over and use it to promote their political candidates. This is incredible in and of itself when one considers that the phone company is a cooperative. Cooperatives by their very nature are Democratic, and socialist. What fries Kadizzle's ass is the same Republicans who insist there is a socialist behind every tree are running the most socialist organization in town. Now for the real clincher, the telephone coops support legislation that enables them to have a monopoly. Although it would save Lord Kadizzle a bundle if the local cable company provided Kadizzle with phone service, it aint going to happen. Why? Because those Republicans running the phone company refuse to permit the cable company to compete for telephone service. These are the same Republicans who are all for competition and free markets. The flames shoot out Kadizzles ears when he realizes these hypocrites are the same ones that cry foul when we try to have national health care. For some reason national phone service is just fine, but national health care smacks of socialism. So Kadizzle cannot use the telephones wired to his house for long distance calling. The socialist phone company with a monopoly in Hazen charges an outragous amount. The only way around it is with a cell phone. Now for the kicker. The cell phone franchise is run by the phone company. These unprincipled scoundrels promote the Republican cause using a telephone coop that was designed to defeat the very philosophy of greed they promote.

In The Land of the Crazy

One nice thing in a small town you know all the crazies, and many of them first hand. The other day Lord Kadizzle was down at city hall talking about the upcoming election. It never occurred to Kadizzle how serious it could be if no one ran. The city planner explained to me the danger of no one running. Hazen has had an eccentric quasi crazy man that has been around for years. The fellow has ridden a bike very similar to Pee Wee Herman's for years. When the gas station closes at night he shows up to get the hot dogs they are going to throw out. Once as judge Kadizzle had the fellow in court for a zoning violation. The first thing he told Judge Kadizzle was that Judge Kadizzle had no authority in Hazen because he was not born here. Kadizzle told him he could not get a building permit for what he wanted and was not to build it. Mr. Crazy then told Judge Kadizzle he would go to Beulah, the town ten miles west and get a permit. Crazy did not grasp the concept you cannot get a building permit in Beulah to construct a building in Hazen.

Now back to the voting. The city planner explained to Kadizzle that for almost every position in the city Mr. Crazy gets three or four write in votes. If no one runs for Mayor, that almost automatically means it will be Mr. Crazy. So it is essential someone run for every office.

Kadizzle and Coal

Coal practically runs in Lord Kadizzles veins. He worked his way through college as an underground coal miner, and work most of his life in the coal industry. However, none of this made him blind to the reality that the age of coal is over. Special interest would love Americans to believe you can clean coal and burn it. The laws of physics just simply will not let that happen. North Dakota could set off on a wave of prosperity by embracing nuclear power, but the coal lobby will not let it happen. There is no way out of the energy mess in the United States unless we embrace nuclear power. Nuclear power has it's problems, but they are small compared to suffocating from burning coal. The Bismarck Tribune which is the local arm of Fox news is such a lap dog to the coal industry that it will not even mention nuclear. Young people get so tired of the backward conservative thinking in North Dakota and they leave. This is the state that voted for Palin, and sadly would probably do it again.

Kadizzle put the Law Suit to rest.

Years ago Kadizzle was hired as an expert witness. In order to perform Kadizzle was forced to buy a nice suit. The case settled out of court, and Kadizzle ended up with a suit. That was over twenty years ago. Weddings and Funerals are about the only time that suit sees the light of day. Unless the equator expands on Kadizzle the same outfit should get him across the finish line. The Commander to cut cost will bury Kadizzle in the suit. This will be an appropriate end to some threads that are always at major events. Unfortunately two other suits no longer fit. The wedding suit would not stand a chance, and the birthday suit is wrinkled and stretched.

If you don't know who John Prine is you better find out.

If you have never listened to John Prine, you are missing one of the best song writers that ever breathed air. More than likely you have listened to someone else sing his songs. If you can get the song he is talking about in this clip and listen to it. The lyrics are in case you cannot hear it in the clip. " a half an inch of water, and I though I was going to drown". That is where the woman came up with the Happy Enchilada.
You must watch the video below. "In Spite of Ourselves" is the theme song for The Commander and Lord Kadizzle.

The Black guy at the Klan rally

Tomorrow, Kadizzle will lay his old neighbor Pat Galvin to rest. Pat was always a lot of fun. When Pat and I built his sun room years ago we had a couple of breaks per day. At noon Pat took a brief nap while he fell asleep listening to Rush Limbaugh. After he awoke we would work until "Conversation". Pat habitually went to "Conversation" everyday. Pat might hold court at Jimmie's Bar, or it might be at the coffee shop. As Pat's only employee on the construction project, it was often my privilege to go to the coffee shop where a fringe benefit was a piece of pie with ice cream.

As everyone knows Pat was a staunch Republican. Kadizzle tried every cure known to man, but Pat died a Republican. At his funeral tomorrow Kadizzle will be a pall bearer. The service will be attended by all the party faithful. As a terrible liberal Kadizzle will know what it is like to be a black man at a Klan rally.

Pat's last words to me were " I am glad to see you, but I don't know why". If Kadizzle ever gets up yonder, and meets his old friend again, that is how I will greet him. The truth is I would know why I was glad to see him. We always had a good laugh when we met, you could count on it.

Granny Gone Wild

The Commander has now become Commander Granny. Once you become a granny, your shopping gland is stimulated and many things you could have walked by, now beckon," Buy me for Sylvie". The Commander looted Kadizzles wallet yesterday, and a bad outcome was on the horizon. The Commander thought there were just too many twenty dollar bills in Kadizzle's wallet, and that by the rules half of them were her's. The worst possible thing is to have a granny with grandchild fever go to the dollar store. If you were fishing for grannies the best lure would be anything made out of bright plastic. In the old days granny occasionally bought fribbles, but now fribbles are no longer a luxury they are a necessity. There is no fribble too exotic to pass by. When The Commander fell under the spell of the fribble shop it was not long before she came home with all sorts of strange items.

Move to Sanger and live with Ghosts

Yesterday the Kadizzles visted the abandoned town of Sanger. A friend is trying to revive the little town along the Missouri. It would be a wonderful place to build and enjoy the tranquility of the Missouri.

An Old Friend will die Today

My longtime neighbor will not see the sun set today. Two people could not possibly have been more on the opposite ends of the political spectrum, but we made it fun. His sense of humor brought everyone a lot of joy. We traded barbs almost every time we saw each other. On my last visit he said "I am glad to see you,but I don't know why?".

My old neighbor had conviction, he believed what he believed, and was not going to change his conviction on a whim to get a few votes. One thing I always remember fondly about Pat was the time I was running for the board of directors for the local phone company. A member of his party was sent through the crowd to tell everyone to vote against Mike Quinn. Pat told the political hack " No one tells me who to vote for!".

Pat was a sailor, and I never met a sailor I didn't like. Pat and I worked on a lot of projects together and we always had fun doing it. Anyone who ever met Pat remembered him for his ability to get a laugh out of anything. Pat never took himself too seriously. We had only known each other for a few years when I ran into Pat one day going into the NAPA store at the end of the street. Pat was selling hair pieces at his barber shop in those days. Of course he had one for himself. As Pat held the door open for me at the NAPA store he reached up and grabbed his hair piece like it was a hat. He held it over his heart and said "Good day sir". Curious I asked Pat "How do you hold that on?". Pat replied without hesitation "With wood screws".

Pat knew my political views and his were diametrically opposed, but he also knew if he needed me for anything all he had to do was call. I knew the same about Pat. In this regard we learned a lot from each other. Both of us considered ourselves to be Irish and I think this was our common bond. Many times Cissie and I have considered moving, but what has always kept us here was the good neighbors. We have always been blessed with a real neighborhood. Pat has moved to a different neighborhood, but I am sure a lot to the angels there will soon know his stories by heart, and I presume he took a few of his books there to peddle.

It looks different from here.

Kadizzle was pondering the question, "Do people ever really change their opinion?", then an old experience came to mind. Many years ago Kadizzle worked for a coal company in Eastern Ohio. The man he worked for was a human relations guy. Even though the man had a good job with a good coal company, he had never been down into a coal mine. Almost every day he bashed the coal miners. The coal miners were lazy union dogs demanding way too much.

The day finally came for his first trip underground. Kadizzle remembers it well. We went into the Franklin Mine. In a coal mine roof bolts are used to support the roof of the mine. Normally the mine roof is flat from one bolt to the next when the bolts are doing their job. However, in the section of the mine where my boss was on his first underground tour, everything had had fallen out from between the bolts. It looked bad, very bad. Kadizzled looked at his boss whose eyes got so big they looked like golf balls. You could tell he was scared. All of a sudden those coal miners he had been calling lazy slackers were hero's. He looked at me an said they deserve every cent they get. There is no way in hell you could get me to work here. My boss had a new found respect for coal miners.

Moving without Moving

( This is art, not pornography, the painting is titled : Sunbathing in the Dunes, 1916 by Paul Gustave Fischer)

Kadizzle has always been puzzled as to why sailing is so relaxing and people seem to enjoy it so much. The concept does not seem exciting. You get in a boat and if you are lucky you might go eight miles an hour. Many times when the wind is up a little there is a sense of excitement, but yesterday Pat, Rodger, Richard and Kadizzle were out on the lake just barely moving, but having a nice sail. This gets back to moving without moving. When a sailboat moves across a calm lake with barely a breeze it is like some sort of magic. There is no sound, nothing is moving to push or pull the boat, but it moves. The only other time such a sensation exist is in a hot air balloon, which is also a very peaceful experience. When you sit still and move you get the sensation you are a spirit. Spirits don't make noise, and they don't need a motor. Silently gliding through the world creates a different perspective. One nice thing about sailboats is the ability to sneak up on wildlife. You can glide into a bay and see deer, geese, and sometimes even a moose. Kadizzle may have become hooked on sailing many years ago when he glided silently into a bay a little west of Pick City. On a beautiful day by himself in his little nineteen foot boat he quietly glided into a secluded bay on a perfect warm sunny day. With no expectations or warning to young apparitions arose from the beach and took off up and over the hill. Apparently the two naked young ladies thought they had found the perfect secret spot to use natures tanning booth. More than anything it reminded Kadizzle of deer bounding over the landscape. Kadizzle has never been a deer hunter, but if the deer looked like this he could sit in a tree stand all day. Every time Kadizzle sails by that spot he reflects on those two young deer gracefully climbing that bluff. Kadizzle has even sailed back in that bay hoping to see deer again, but he never has. Perhaps that is a good thing with a weak heart it could be his demise, but it would be a nice way to pass into the next world.

You have to love those Wall Street Theives.

Yesterday my daughter Megan told me she was paying 25% on her credit card. Kadizzle had to do some rearranging to get her a different line of credit. That wonderful Chase Bank that rips off young people so they can pay the CEO hundreds of millions.

On the way home from the lake yesterday NPR ran a story about how the Wall Street banks are ripping off the federal government. Those good old boys are borrowing money from the federal government at 1% and buying treasury bills that pay 3%. Now you can see they are just exercising their right to rob the U.S. Treasury. Perhaps that is where they are getting the money to lend to Megan for 25%.

The best part of the show is the Republican party, which has just accepted massive bribes to do what they do best, "Just say no". Just say no to banking reform. Yes this same bunch of compassionate conservatives that love us all, are now making sure the thieves on Wall Street have the right to rob every young person in the country trying to get ahead. In case you have not been following the Goldman Sachs story Kadizzle will bring you up to date. Goldman Sachs that is now doling out billions in bonuses came up with a clever scheme. Goldman in cahoots with another thieving outfit put together a package of mortgages designed to fail. Goldman sold the package and vouched or it. Then Goldman and its partner thief bet the package would fail by selling it short. It failed, people got thrown out of their home, and all the bankers lived happily every after. Now, it is just a matter of pumping some campaign contributions into the Republican party and we can do it all over again.

What is Hull Speed? What is Dull Speed?

Airplanes for years could not break the sound barrier. However, they eventually did. Sailboats on the other hand have never broken the barrier of hull speed. What is hull speed? After a sailboat reaches a certain speed it can go no faster. It makes no difference how much horsepower you add, the boat will go no faster. Physics dictates that the amount of water that has to be moved out of the way by the boat will increase at exactly the rate you add power. The formula for hull speed is 1.25 times the square root of the boat length at the water line. So a boat that is 36 feet long at the water line will have a hull speed of about 6 times 1.25, or 8.5 Knots.

Now Kadizzle has discovered that this formula also applies to boat repair. A boat can only be cleaned and repaired at a certain rate. When trying to fix up a boat, it will fall apart and get dirty at about the same rate you are fixing. This is call the dull speed. The name comes from the fact that there is so much fiberglass to clean that when you get the last of it cleaned the first place you started will be dull. Today Kadizzle will work on the boat. For years he has been trying to paint all the teak on the rail of the boat, but dull speed always defeats him. By the time he gets it painted the paint has started to peel where he started.

Young Pirates out of Control.

Visiting friends last night Kadizzle was faced with keeping two little twin four years olds and their little girl cousin entertained. Soon it became apparent that they could be assigned tasks as pirates. This worked well because they could be sent on missions, which got them out of Kadizzles hair. They were sent to look for other ships, then they were sent to bury the gold, and on it went for over an hour.

Of course we talked pirate talk with some "Ahoy maties" and lots of "ARRRRR's". The pirates got pretty good at addressing the pirate King Kadizzle with "Aye Aye Sir". Black Beard proved to be a real nuisance, he kept coming back alive. As the evening ended one of the twins approached Kadizzle for final instructions before Kadizzle left. Kadizzle admonished the diminished pirate "Don't let anyone get my gold". The young pirate looked Kadizzle in the eye and said " Don't worry it's your F..king gold". Kadizzle could hardly withhold his laughter, but realized there would have to be a review of pirate language. It sounded like the gold would be safe.

Fun with Sewage

After twenty years of loyal service the sewage lift pump in the basement gave out. Today Kadizzle has the pleasant job of replacing it. As if the expense of a new pump were not enough, the bonus will be cleaning out the basin and the other assorted task that make playing with sewage fun. Hopefully this pump will live longer than Kadizzle. At eighty I don't want to do it again. That is one nice thing about getting old, when you complete a task, it may be the very last time you have to do it. This reminds me of two of my favorite humor moments. One was a cartoon of a guy in Cuba. The poor guy was tied to a post and blind folded. He was about to be executed. A member of the firing squad offered him a cigarette. The guy refused saying "No thanks, I am trying to quit".

H.L. Mencken as a young reporter covered a hanging in Baltimore. The poor black man who was about to be hanged was asked by the hangman if he had anything he would like to say before he was hung. His reply was "This is sure going to teach me a lesson". That is sort of how I look forward to changing the sewage lift pump.

Leave it to Ray,

Who but our friend Ray Kerns would have to have a working canon on his model Keel Boat? Ray always does it right. Ray has been building models to display at the trading post in Stanton, in conjunction with the Knife River Indian village. Historically these models are as accurate as he can make them. I presume he has real whiskey in the jugs.

Phony peope at the Phone company.

You would expect the people at the telephone company to be phony, and believe me the people that run our local phone coop are. West River Telecommunications is our local phone company. It is unique because it has been used as an arm of the Republican Party for years. Coops are usually considered good examples of socialistic, democratic organizations. How did this one turn into an evil nest of Republicans? It all started when a staunch Republican, Mick Grosz, went from the board of West River to the CEO position. Mr. Gross had been a Republican legislator. This was unusual, normally the CEO is an employee that earned the position or someone from outside is hired. Next, he arranges to get another Republican legislator on the Board, Randy Christmann. For years West River Telephone has been used as an instrument to keep Christmann in office. The phone company sponsors events where Christmann hands out food, and they make sure his face appears everywhere.

Now, remember those Republicans who are all for free enterprise? Remember those Republicans who are against socialism? Remember those Republicans who are all for competition? Guess what? The Republicans at West River Telecommunications don't want any competition from free enterprise. The cooperatives have lobbied to make sure private companies cannot compete with them in my home town to provide phone service. This goes against everything Mr. Christmann, and Mr Grosz stand for. If they wanted they could grant Midco permission to provide phone service in the small towns. However, they know they would get trounced. Midco Cable company has the abiltiy to provide internet, telephone, and cable TV. With package deals they can do it for less than West River Telecommunications. Midco would offer people free long distance service. West River Telecommunications has such high rates for long distance only fools would use it.

Phone coops were granted a monopoly in the days of land lies only. The excuse was to provide phone service for people living out in the middle of nowhere. Somehow it has been overlooked that cell phones now exist. Farmers don't need land lines. The Coops have perfected the a system of subsidies that allows them to such off the tax payers in populated states to pay for their unnecessary service. This is bad enough, but when they deny cheap service to the people in their own state they have gone to far. Like every scam it is hard to kill, we are used to it.

How to get the attention of a Coal Company

In my early days in the coal industry I worked near Cadiz, Ohio. Consolidation Coal had a large office there. Mandatory dust sampling had just become the law a few years before. Coal Mines were required to take dust samples from miners to see how much coal dust they were breathing. The samples were sent to the federal government for testing. One day I went to a mine and watched a technician putting samples up to his mouth and sucking the coal dust out backwards off the filters. I said "What are you doing?". The answer was "I am making sure these samples will pass". They had another trick. They would hang some dust pumps out in clear air where they would pick up a little coal dust, but not too much. These samples would be exchanged for the real ones.

One day the whole scheme blew up. Federal Marshalls with hand trucks went right into the vice presidents office as he sat at his desk. They immediately took all his file cabinets and every scrap of evidence they could find. The shit hit the fan. To be honest, I don't think he knew about or condoned what was going on, but it sure got his attention. When the Mine Health and Safety Administration sent the first coal mine foreman to prison the world changed.

If we want to stop killing coal miners needlessly, there is a simple elegant solution. Send Mr. Blankship from Massey Coal to prison. Of course he should get a trial, but I feel any reasonable jury will find him guilty of murder. The 14 million a year he gets will not mean much once he is in prison. It will send a very strong message through the coal fields. Wall Street could use a little dose of prison reality. After a few CEO's write back to their buddies how much fun prison sex is, you will see reforms on Wall Street taken on voluntarily. It would be so nice to know an ex CEO from Wall Street is being bent over in prison receiving the same treatment they gave the country.

Kadizzle will not run for Judge in Hazen

After 20 years of being the Hazen Municipal Judge, Lord Kadizzle will not run for re-election. The Commander will not run for re-election to the Park board after many, many years of service. Local rumors have it that Kadizzle is not running because of his anticipation that Obama will appoint him to the Supreme court. Kadizzle is well known in legal circles after his ruling in Quinn vs June Berry pie. In that case Judge Kadizzle ruled in favor of a man who ordered June Berry pie and was told they had no vanilla ice cream. The man was suing for mental stress. Kadizzle ruled it was unreasonable for a local restaurant to offer June Berry pie without ice cream. Kadizzle cited the "Life, Liberty, and pursuit of happiness" provision of the constitution. The ruling read in part, "This man went to the restaruant in pursuit of happiness, no reasonable food service place would build up a man's expectation by placing June Berry pie on the menu and then put it in front of him without vanilla ice cream".

Republicans are expected to challenge Kadizzle because he has never produced a birth certificate. Those on the right claim he may not have been legally born. Since Kadizzle is from West Virginia where cousin marriages are common, the right wing extremist claim that if you are the progeny of a mixed marriage that involves cousins you are not a person. Many on the left have doubts about Kadizzle also. With New York trying to limit salt on food, and considering higher taxes on French Fries, the left worries Kadizzle may come down of the side of big business and support no taxation on high calorie foods.

Earth Module Scheduled to Land

After orbiting Arizona, passing through Nevada, Utah, and Colorado, the Earth Module will make a re-entry into North Dakota. One nice thing is you do not need a heat shield.

Dare to be Stupid

My younger brother Colin used to make fun of a fundamentalist group called "Dare to be Great". Like the typical fundamentalist fraud they went around the country robbing the delusional in a bus. Colin called them DARE TO BE STUPID. The Tea Party movement in this country reminds me of the DARE TO BE STUPID movement. Here is a bunch of people that get no real information. They thrive from listening to people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. Glenn and Rush know how to get the DARE TO BE STUPID crowd all fired up. They are against everything, except tax cuts for the rich. They believe anything their right wing heroes spin. Michelle Bachmann is in a contest with Palin for who can be the hero of the simple minded. Palin is famous for her whopper about Death Panels. Now Bachmann has tried to outdo Palin. This is an excerpt from and article about Bachmans lies.

(ChattahBox)— There is no end to the paranoid right-wing ranting of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Her wild accusations and outright lies, have run the gamut from accusing President Obama of perpetrating a plot to “effectively nationalize energy” and starve “freedom loving Americans,” and of creating “re-education camps,” to indoctrinate young people. And she recently urged her constituents to “slit our wrists, be blood brothers” in opposing health care reform. Now, she is back on her campaign against “government run healthcare,” declaring at a recent town hall meeting in her home state of Minnesota that critics of a government healthcare system would be placed on a list and refused medical treatment. Where did the wacky Congresswoman come up with such a preposterous claim? Some unnamed person living under Japan’s healthcare system told Bachmann that’s what occurs in Japan. OK then.

How big is a Coal Mine?

In this picture you can see a small portion of a coal mine. Most big mines are ten times this big. The mine Kadizzle used to work in now goes from the Ohio River in West Virginia for miles under Pennsylvania.


With the recent mine disaster Kadizzle thought he would write about coal mining this morning. Many people imagine a coal mine as a bunch of guys at the end of a single tunnel with picks mining coal. It just is not true. When a mine goes anywhere there are usually six tunnels heading in the main direction. Each of these six tunnels is connected about every fifty feet. Miners actually call them entries, and the connections are called crosscuts. After the main entry is established, this is the one the air and coal will be moved through, then the sections begin. A section is like a huge side branch where coal is extracted. Again six entries are driven up the middle of the section, while rooms are driven off to the side. Several sections at once may be working. In no time at all you have miles and miles of tunnels. One crew can typically mine four hundred feet in one day. So you see coal miners are working in a vast maze. To add to the confusion, all the air has to come in one set of tunnels, and all the exhaust has to go out another. So there are two separate air courses. Many days Kadizzle worked underground and was clueless where he was or how in the hell to get out. When miners ride a mile or two into the mine they are in enclosed cars, so there are very few clues where you are going. Finding your way out of a mine without a disaster could be hard, but in a panic even worse. There have been more than one case where people thought they were going out, and were actually going in. On a couple occasions Kadizzle did walk out. It was strange when you got to the point where you could see that little light that was daylight. You walked and walked and finally you were outside. The best job in a mine is window cleaner.

Moma, Sylvie, and the Lama

We are at such a high elevation Lamas are common here in Evergreen Colorado. These things look like shag carpets with legs.

Dutch girls in the Restroom

As the Kadizzlites finished the winter southwest tour they ended up in Bluff, Utah. As usual the Earth Module stayed at the Cadillac RV resort, or as Ed likes to say the Kadizzlac. The RV park offers showers as part of the package. The shower house has four restrooms each with a shower and sink. The rooms all are attached to a central room that serves as a bit of a lounge with a table and chairs and some reading material. One day as Kadizzle went for his shower he entered the common room and met two nice looking Dutch girls who were touring the United States. Kadizzle did what he could to help them plan their trip. Later they came over to the Earth module for more advice. In the course of the conversation they mentioned they were going to New York City. Already The Commander had them looking at Megan's Noble Youth web site. Kadizzle suggested that if they went to New York they might stay with Megan. It all came together and today they are in New York at Megans apartment. Megan asked "How did you meet my Dad?". The Dutch girls replied "We met him in a restroom in Utah". Megan was a bit shocked, but anything is possible.

The Hidden Brain

Kadizzle has been reading, and hopefully learning from the book "The Hidden Brain". The premise of the book is that people make a lot of decisions based on our hidden brain. The hidden brain is like the auto pilot for thinking. One incident and example in the book are fires in crowded places. Frequently when a fire occurs in a theater, or other public place people are killed because everyone tries to use the same exit they came in. The hidden brain automatically notes where you came in and also notes that is where everyone else is going. Even though there are enough exits people pile up and die because they hidden brain uses a primitive logic system. Many studies find children are prejudiced for what appears to be no good reason. The amazing thing about young children is that black children are prejudiced towards blacks. The hidden brain of children picks up on clues from society, and reacts accordingly, even though the parents never do anything to encourage this behavior. Sometimes you wonder how could anyone even consider voting for Sara Palin? It is the hidden brain in action. People want to do what people in their group are doing. Unconsciously they are picking up signals from their group and reacting to those signals. The hidden brain uses a primitive form of logic.

One day after a long hike Kadizzle was dying for a diet coke or some beverage to drink. Stopping at a roadside store there were two clerks and two cash registers. One cash register had ten people in line, the other checkout had no one. Kadizzles first reaction was to just forget about the coke and leave because he did not want to wait in line. His hidden brain said there is a reason everyone is in that line, so that must be where you have to go. However, Kadizzles concious brain directed him to the empty register. Right away the clerk took his money, and he left the store while those other people stood in line. Before he left he asked the clerk "Why is everyone in that line, and no one will come over here to you, don't they like you?", The clerk laughed and replied, they must not.

Look around you and you can see this logic all the time. Ask a young person what political party they feel they are a part of. Most of the time it will mimic the parents views. There is not much logic in this, but it makes sense from the hidden brain's viewpoint. Most magic tricks rely on the hidden brain. The hidden brain can be distracted very easily.

Up on the Mountain

At 8500ft the weather changes so quickly. Yesterday seven inches of snow, today it is almost gone and the sun shines warmly. One of the best things on the mountain at Erin's is the wildlife that comes by on a regular basis. Deer graze and nap in the backyard. Two foxes make the pass by almost every day. One of the foxes has a rare coat of black with a white tail. No it is not a skunk. The story is some guy used to breed foxes up here. The big thrill is when the Elk come by. The altitude seems to remove what little ambition Kadizzle ever had. The water is the best anywhere. It is pure mountain water. Seeing the dishes come out of the dish washer sparkling is something that does not happen in North Dakota. You can get a cold drink out of the tap that reminds me of the good mountain water in West Virginia. Two little brooks run down beside Erin's house. When the summer comes it is going to be great fun to put the rubber ducks in the stream to entertain the Ticklepinch. It is almost time to put the Kadizzle chub in the hot tub.

The World Will Change Dramatically.

Hewlett Packard is working on a new form of computer memory that will change the game.
The amount of memory that can be stored in any given space will increase dramatically in a few years. To top that they way computers will work will change. Follow the link it is a good article.

Grandpa's Salvation

Normally The Commander watches Kadizzle's every move, and provides close adult supervision. Since the little lady in the pink hat has come along, The Commander has a new charge. Kadizzle can read, blog, or do as he pleases as the little Ticlkpinch distracts Grandma.

Stranger in a Strange Land

Everytime Kadizzle visits his daughter, The Commander and Kadizzle get caught in a marathon session of television watching. Since Erin works from home, she usually sits gramps and grandma in front of the TV to keep them out of trouble. The strange thing is the nature of the series we end up watching. In recent times the most bizarre series we ever watch are the ones we watch at Erin's. In the last two days we have been caught up in hours of Big Love Fran has recorded for The Commander. The series is about a polygamist in Utah in modern times. The plot has so many sub plots, twists, turns and total insanity that it is almost impossible to keep up with. Having just come back from Utah and seen many of the real things this insane series is based on it is scary. The stuff really goes on. In the last two years we have done Deadwood, and Dexter. Both of these series also are only for the brave. Dexter is a serial killer who kills serial killers. Deadwood is the best Western ever, and the fact that it is done in a Shakespearean style really makes it unique. Kadizzle recommends all these series. Deadwood was probably the favorite. Don't start into this mess if you do not have time to waste. When people were limited to one episode a week that was fine, but when you have the whole series on CD you can count on wasted days.

Noise CD for Sale,

Kadizzle is a peaceful man and likes the quiet of the lake, and the peacefulness of the wilderness, but often the tranquility is destroyed by the sound of some loud engine. Many times it is a loud motorcycle or boat. The sad thing is many of these devices are made deliberately loud. Kadizzle has come up with a solution. Now, on CD you can buy the Obnoxious noise CD. When you want to roar down the street or lake and listen to loud noise you just play the loud noise of your choice on headphones. Only you have to hear the noise. No more waking up everyone in the neighborhood. The noise CD has a track for everyone. Track one "Motorcycle Mania" Track two "Boom Box Bum" Track Three "Two Stoke for Dumb Folk". Track four "Noise to float your Boat". Track five "Rappin to disturb Nappin". If you order now you can get the free head phones, and the "Stupid and Proud" bumper sticker, all for $19.95.

Kadizzle the Coal Miner

Every time there is a mine disaster Kadizzle remembers his days as an underground coal miner. Kadizzle was young and in college, for a summer job he was an underground coal miner. One thing he was told as part of the safety training, which was damn little in those days, was that when you heard and explosion and the air stopped moving you better be on your way out.

One day just as we started the shift we got the two classic signals. There was a loud muffled boom, and sure enough the air quit moving. At the time we were at least a mile underground. Worse yet smoke was pouring into where we were. After you are in mining awhile you get the feeling most miners don't expect to survive an explosion. I was amazed how calm everyone was. I think everyone thought we were just walking dead men. As a crew we gathered together and decided we were going to try to walk out. I suggested we take our water and lunches.

After we had walked a relatively short distance the air cleared up. This meant we had walked past the explosion. The foreman figured out pretty quickly what had happened. When our crew walked in to work we had walked through a puddle of water about thirty feet long. The puddle had a huge power cable in it. The cable had shorted out in the water and exploded. Now, we found out we would be fine, but had we been in that puddle five minutes later, we would all have been electrocuted. The cable was illegally laid through the puddle, it should have been hung up. Kadizzle always clearly remembers that day, and what he remembers most was how calm everyone was. It was like telling eight people you are dead, and looking at the expression on their faces. Miners are a unique breed, and some of the best people you will ever meet. There are no phonies down where the coal is.

A Cold Boil

Since Erin lives at 8500 feet the coffee doesn't taste right. The high altitude lets the water boil at about 196 degrees. Normally in Hazen water will boil at 208 degrees. So the coffee is colder and just not the same. In the old days when Kadizzle worked at the power plant the water in the boiler would not boil until something over seven hundred degrees since it was under pressure. Now that would have made some good coffee.

Playing with Deaf Kids

Kadizzle loves kids and cannot resist romping with them. Easter Sunday Kadizzle found himself having a meal with some relatives and friends. Holly, Rob and their two little boys are deaf. Before long Kadizzle and all the children were all in the back yard playing "Get Me". Kids love to be chased caught and let go. It is easier to sneak up on deaf children. Riordian, the smallest of the two was shy like all kids are. He wanted to be caught but when he was caught by some stranger he was a little scared. So Riordian would make the sign for "where is dad" every time I caught him. Kayan had to be the interpreter. In frustration Kadizzle said to Kayan "That doesn't make any sense". Kayan replied "I told you a thousand times that is what he is saying, even if it doesn't make any sense." It did make sense when you thought it out. Riordian would periodically go in the house get a boost of courage from his dad and then come back out to join the fun. At some point Riordian scraped his leg. Now, how does Kadizzle comfort someone he cannot talk to and explain he meant no harm. Riordian ran in the house crying, but soon came out. Somehow Kadizzle managed to convey his concern by getting Riordian to come over and let Kadizzle examine the scratch. Things were back to wildness soon. It was amazing how well all the kids knew sign language. It seems like the most simple logic, but it took awhile for it to sink in to Kadizzle that you cannot communicate with deaf children unless they are looking at you. Deaf kids are used to adults that know how to sign, so constantly they were signing to Kadizzle with no results. They must have been thinking this idiot has no vocabulary what so ever. Which of course was true. Children without hearing must be more sensitive to facial expressions than most children. They seemed to immediately be able to detect a fake mean face from a real one.

Matt Taibbi, How Wall St. Riiped Off Main Street

Rarely does Kadizzle laugh out loud from reading something, but if anyone can do it it is Matt Taibbi. He has to be Kadizzle's favorite writer. Here is example when Taibbi discribes one of the crooks "Blount is a stocky, stubby-fingered Southerner with glasses and a small pinched face - if Norman Rockwell had ever done a painting titled "Small Town Accountant Taking an Enormous Dump," it would look just like Blount."

After reading the article you can see that Wall Street is just a bunch of sophisticated gangsters, that never go to jail. Of course the Republicans are fighting any kind of real reform that would keep the Wall Street crooks in check. Read the article it is a wonderful example of how all those people on Wall Street are getting bonuses for destroying our country.

The Lizard Lounge

Now that the southern hiking season is over all we have to live on is memories. After a long hike in the Paria River area we would often end the day with a drink at the Lizard lounge. Around the campfire on the old couch one can sit and drink a beer in the warm sun. As you sit you can watch the lizards that have made the furniture their home peak out from under the cushions. Next he will peek out somewhere else. Life is good.

Powdered Water Popular in Southwest

The Kadizzles hauled the Earth Module over the Rockies yesterday. It is always a tense trip and with The Commander for co-pilot there is even more tension. Apparently The Commander thinks Kadizzle is blind. "That car put its brakes on", "Did you hear the wind?", "Go around that truck", and "Don't go around that truck". Kadizzle would love to have one of those old deals they made for kids that you could put on the other side of the care with a horn and steering wheel. Anyway we made it to Erin's to marvel at our granddaughter who is just learning to stand.

Now, back to the powdered water. Water is always an issue when traveling in your RV. In a supermarket near Tuscon Kadizzle was wandering through the isles bored. In the isle with the bottled water a vendor was stocking shelves. Kadizzle with a serious face asked him, "Where is the powdered water". Without hesitation he said "If they have it, it would be in this isle". Two days ago in the little store at an RV place there were two people behind the counter. Again Kadizzle asked if they carried powdered water. Both looked at each other and then one said "I don't think we have it". If anyone knows where I could get some it would be the perfect product for hiking, RVing, and a host of other uses. It seems to exist, stores just don't want to carry it because it would compete with the bottled water.

Awake at 6,000 feet

What is left of the Kadizzlites have awakened to a cold morning at 6,000 feet. The coffee water boils sooner and not as hot. First, we have to heat the joint up a little. Hopefully nothing froze. Today Kadizzle guesses The Commander will insist on a forced march. No doubt it will be down into some vast canyon. On our short hike yesterday there were many little sites where you could see ancient people had been crafting arrow heads. Kadizzle was hopping to find something interesting. The wife of the camp host found a seven inch spear point. The best Kadizzle could do was a arrow head with the point broken. There is a letter in the Bismarck Tribune today by a preacher who is a bit upset about Glenn Beck coming out against social justice. Glenn Beck is as close to Hitler in his techniques as anyone you will see in your lifetime. It is very scary that people actually watch and believe such a delusional maniac. If you watch him very long you can see he needs treatment. It seems like our country is slipping into the McCarthy era once again. The simple minded always like someone like Glenn Beck to scare the beJesus out of them. Glenn fits in so well with the Fox News crowd. News on Fox and entertainment cannot be separated. No other news organization manufactures its own news. Only Fox has the balls to whip up some organization like the teabaggers then pretend it emerged on it's own.

Weather Clears at Canyonlands or Where's Waldo

If you look closely you can find Lord Kadizzle in this picture. Pictures can never capture the immense size of the world. The Commander insisted we hike into some hidden arch. We never saw the arch, but had a nice hike, I guess it was hidden. The weather showed a little mercy on us. Got into a bullshit session with the camp host. According to him he has been attacked three times by black bears, and each time shot them. Something about probabilities makes me wonder. His stories were good, and it could have happened, just a little skeptical. Every time it happened he just happened to have a gun an shot the bear. I would say he is either a liar, or a lucky man. Also noticed the bears kept getting bigger. The last black bear that attacked him was nine feet tall. Perhaps this all was a tall tail on his part.

Life in a small box

The Kadizzlites have been living in a small box with wheels for about three months. From the living room to the bedroom is about four steps. The views are usually magnificent. Heat can be a precious commodity. To have heat you need electricity. This means the battery, or the generator. The battery will not last to long running the furnace. So the routine is to get up warm up the module and begin the day. Since the module is self contained, all water must be carried on board, and after it is used stored on board. Living in a module makes you very conscious of how much water, electricity, and fuel you use. Periodically the module has to be recharged and discharged. The trick is to go as long as you can between refills. This means turn off the light right away. Don't run the water. Close the door. If more people could readily see their impact on resources, the world would be a better place. Living in the urban environment people don't have a clew how much they consume. In an Earth Module every drop counts.

Earth Module Settles in Canyonlands, Utah

Water is scarce in this part of the world and procuring it was a major hassle. Lord Kadizzle played the part of the Palestinians and The Commander was in the role of Israel. Needless to say it was not a pleasant day. To make matters worse the weather is slowly deteriorating. The wind is gusting, and it would not be a big surprise to see snow in the morning. However, it was not so bad we could not drive around and see the incredible views. Tonight we sit up near 6k feet deep in the heart of nowhere. Slowly we are moving one checkerboard square at a time back to North Dakota.

Butler Wash

The Commander and Lord Kadizzle had a nice hike in good weather up on Cedar Mesa today. We had the good fortune to find a lot of Indian ruins we had never seen before. Many of the ruins were of superb quality. Several were in immense caves. Another had very well preserved rooms above the floor of the canyon. We found many pertroglyphs and a lot of rock art. The shear volume of habitations in the Cedar Mesa area is astounding.

Thoughts from sister Kate

Food For Thought




A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.

As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up.

He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.


He said, 'I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.' I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker, and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk; naturally...I assumed you had stolen the car.'

This reminds Lord Kadizzle of all the Christians who want to make sure Obama fails and we do not have health care for everyone.

Jesus was in a bad mood

Yesterday Lord Kadizzle stopped in Page, AZ for groceries with The Commander. As Lord Kadizzle disembarked he noticed Jesus coming across the parking lot pushing a shopping cart. There before Kadizzle was a man with a traditional Middle East head dress with a gold band above his ears that circled his head. He had the eyes, beard and face of what the old Sunday school pictures of Jesus looked like. However, from the neck down he was dressed in a cowboy shirt and blue jeans. In Kadizzle's mind there was no question the man wanted to be perceived as Jesus. So Kadizzle greeted him by saying " How is Jesus doing today?". Jesus scowled back at Kadizzle and did not respond. Who knows? It is very possible Jesus knows how bad Kadizzle has been and was pissed off, but it was nice to see him.

The Longest Slot Canyon in the world

Yesterday we did an eight mile hike into Buckskin Gulch. In no time at all you are looking up 900 foot wall straight up. Lord Kadizzle barely made it through cheeseburger pass. One cheeseburger too many and you will not squeeze through.

Find a Way Out

Ruth and Rodger split off from the wagon train this morning to find a safe passage back to the Dakotas. They will try to go south and east without hitting snow and go up through the plains on hopefully clear roads. The Earth Module will try to sneak across the Rockies when a window of opportunity opens. The Donner Party ended up having each other for lunch with such a plan. Tonight the Kadizzles are at the Cadillac Ranch, plugged in with complete hookups. Bluff is a nice little town with a lot of the best Indian sites in the country nearby. The Kadizzles are hoping to go up on Cedar Mesa and explore some good sites, but weather may be a problem.

The 17th Canadian Couple

Today Lord Kadizzle had to dump the sewage from the Earth Module at an RV Campground. While there he met Canadian couple number 17. Kadizzle has been interviewing Canadians since last June about how they like Canadian health care. Of the 17 couples Kadizzle has talked to 16 said they love Canadian health care. One gentleman had some doubts. All the Canadian are amazed about the lying Fox and other right wing news outfits do about their system. Consistently they have said pretty much the same thing. You may have to wait if you do not have a serious problem. Many told Kadizzle stories about the good care they got and how they would have been bankrupt if they had been in the United States. One Canadian told an interesting story about his grandson. When born the child had a serious heart defect. The Canadian health care system had special surgical tools made to work on the small heart. Now they have a healthy full grown grandson. The man told me if it had happened in the United States they would still be bankrupt and paying. Kadizzle heard many stories praising they system and the care in Canada. Two days ago on the trail couple 16 had the best summary of the difference between the two systems. The gentleman from British Columbia said " There is an infinite demand for health care, and a limited supply. In Canada we give priority to those who need help the most. In the United States health care is rationed by giving the rich all they want, and letting the poor do without." He went on to say "In Canada we believe in government and trust our government, in your country everyone thinks the government is evil". If you meet some Canadians do your own experiment ask them how they like socialized health care. Sadly the United States is one of the only industrialized countries in the world that will let young couples go bankrupt while the wealthy refuse to pay the taxes necessary so everyone can have health care. The real irony is that the countries that do have socialized health care spend considerably less than we do as a percentage of their GDP and get better results. Don't let reality get in your way if you want to believe, Rush, Glenn, Hanity, and the rest of those who seek to make sure the less fortunate don't get adequate care. The Canadians have a system, the system works well, and our politicians promote lies about it.

Mean Jean, the Hiking Machine

For many years Lord Kadizzle has been looking for the magic place the Spanish and of course the Indians crossed the Buckskin Gulch. There is only one place it is possible. Buckskin Gulch is the the longest continual slot canyon in the world. Today as we finally found the right place we ran into an eighty year old man, Jean Glenn. Jean was making the same hike. Jean slept under a tree last night up on the mesa. Jean said he would go down the very dangerous drop into the canyon if we would help pull him out. The Commander was adamant the Kadizzle not make the attempt. It is always a thing that puts you in your place when someone like Jean comes along. You think you are hot stuff at 61, and then you get shown up by a guy eighty who just got a new knee. When Kadizzle gets better net service he will add a picture. Tomorrow we will hike into Bucksking Gulch from the bottom.

Valley of The Gods next stop

Ruth and Rodger are doing the Wave on this windy day. There is sunshine. Sunday, or Monday we will move to Valley of the Gods or over around the Bluff area. Maybe the Navajos will be having the Ye Be She to start spring when we get there. Yesterday we made the jog up to Yellow Rock, pictured above. Tomorrow we will go into Buckskin Canyon

Earth Module Landed at Head of Parie Canyon

Ruth and Rodger are at the dude ranch living large with electricity. They just took a shower, with unlimited hot water. The gang found some great petroglyphs down in the canyon yesterday. Today we did Yellow Rock. Ruth and Rodger won the lottery and got a pass to The Wave tomorrow, so with some luck the weather will hold and they will get there. The Wave is probably the premier rock formation in the United States only ten people per day are allowed to hike to it.

Earth Module Set to Launch today

Try as she might The Commander had been defeated. The Earth Module will leave for the Paria River today. Communications will be poor in the heart of nowhere. The biggest challenge will be the pack rats that ate the wiring of the truck last year to the tune of four hundred dollars.

Bob Herbert tells it like it is in the NYT

Bob Herbert wrote in The New York Times today "For decades the G.O.P. has been the party of fear, ignorance and divisiveness. All you have to do is look around to see what it has done to the country. The greatest economic inequality since the Gilded Age was followed by a near-total collapse of the overall economy. As a country, we have a monumental mess on our hands and still the Republicans have nothing to offer in the way of a remedy except more tax cuts for the rich." You owe it to yourself to read the whole article to see how the Republicans are destroying our country

Tryin to leave Zion

The Commander is begging to stay one more day in Zion, but the Earth Module must move on. Yesterday was one more day in Paradise. Lord Kadizzle turned 61 and Ruth and Rodger took Kadizzle and his wife to dinner. The combination anniversary and birthday dinner was excellent. The Whipped Tail Grill right by the gates to Zion National Park had once been a gas station. It was the best meal the Kadizzles will ever have in a gas station.

Fear Strikes Out

Paul Krugman shot an arrow through the heart of the Hoopleheads. You must read his article in the New York Times Today

Kadizzle Cleans Birthday suit in Zion Pool

Riding the Unicorn

Unicorns flourish in Zion National Park. They are considered an endangered species here. This local woman has captured and tamed one to ride.

Green Jello Eaters

The adults drink green beer, and the kids eat green jello.

Ruth and Rodger assualt Observation Point, The Commander leads the way

The Commander with unlimited energy made the second arduous hike up Observation Point in three days. Due to a gravity attack Kadizzle stayed at the bottom

How communities develope.

A sociologist would have a great time studying the life of the RV crowd. Each little campground is a community. The speed that people become friends and share stories is many times faster than your normal community. Everything that happens in a little town happens ten times faster in a campground. Traveling people are quick to give one another a hand or advice. Start working on your camper, your solar panel, or anything else and in no time someone will be there to help. Someone will show up with the tool or potion you need to fix anything. You get to know people very quickly. People band together to solve problems. Meeting people is very easy. Just about everyone seems to be in a good mood. Back at the Goldfield campground everyone came together quickly to help Bud when his wife died. The speed travelers get to know the town folks also is much faster. People seem to respect each other in campgrounds, they pick up after their dog, they try to follow the generator rules, and generally do the right thing. If there was an equivalent of the old wagon train it would be the modern RV crowd. Just like the old wagon train days the news travels up and down the line. Someone pulls in who is coming from where you are going, and vice versa. What are the roads like what is the campground like, do you know a good dry camping spot?

Campers can probably be divided into three distinct social classes. On the top are the people exuding cash who have to travel pulling everything they own. These people have huge diesel rigs with multiple TV's and make sure they never have to experience the least discomfort. Usually the upper class will not stay anywhere but fist class RV places with all the amenities. The next notch down dry camps and uses the less fancy parks and is not afraid to get wet or step in a little mud. Polishing and shining are the favorite passtimes of the upper class. Another group are somewhat purist about peace and quite. They like to live entirely on solar and don't mind being without hookups. It is a good exchange for a better natural experience.

Campers are very much like sailboats, everything is a compromise. If you get bigger and better stuff, you are excluded from many places because of your size. In sail boat terminology the little boats can gunkhole. That means they can get in and go places the big boats cannot. The same is very true for RV's. The smaller ones have access to many places the big guys cannot get too.

The number of nice people you meet who often become good friends is astounding. When you make the same general circuit every year you run into a lot of the same people and catch up. Life always has it's little ups and downs, but moving around where it is warm is a great improvement over freezing your ass off bored out of your gourd.

Observation Point

Sun and Gravity liquify snow

Kadizzlites hiked off trail into the back country of Zion. One great hope was to see big horn sheep. Although tracks were abundant, the only one we saw was from the truck window just as we entered the Zion Tunnel on the way back to camp.

Brave Naked Girls

Girls have either been the greatest blessing for Lord Kadizzle, or his biggest bane, or should I say pain? Yesterday as Kadizzle descended from high in Zion he looked below to see two little naked girls six and nine playing in an icy mountain stream above the waterfall in the picture. The kids were on a hike with their parents. Now getting in the stream in and of itself would be more than most kids could do, but these two topped it off by getting out of the stream and rolling in the snow. To survive girls have to be tough in this world. Kadizzle admires parents who raise their girls to take on the world. Prior to seeing the kids with their parents Kadizzle had heard voices down below him. Kadizzle puzzled how small kids could even be within voice range. The climb to get that close would be very difficult for small children. After talking to the parents it became clear these young girls had already had experience doing some serious climbing. The parents told The Commander about how the girls had hiked up another difficult Zion trail. As Kadizzle came down the steep incline one of the kids scrambled up it without hesitation. (by now they had manged to get dressed). The girls reminded me of my own. Our kids were not raised to be wimps and whiners, and it was refreshing to see these kids taking on life with bravado. Girls can do anything.

Commander Compares Kisses

The Commander Kissed Kadizzle and then the dog, The Commander preferred the dog.

Cooking Kadizzle

Deep in a Canyon North of Wickenburg some Indians invited Lord Kadizzle and The Commander for dinner. The Chief suggested we might want to enjoy his hot tub prior to dinner. Everything was going fine and we offered the chief wine. As the water seemed to get hotter in the tub some of the lovely Indian women started peeling onion and potatoes. When they started tossing them in the tub and adding seasoning, we became suspicious. The chief left and said he was dressing for dinner. When he returned he had an apron on. When the Chief returned Kadizzled asked what the main dish was. The Chief said it was "Treaty Breaker Strew". "What is in it?", I asked. "A lot of white meant and some vegetables", the chief replied. When Kadizzle and The Commander asked for some shampoo they were a bit dismayed to find salt and pepper coming out of the shampoo, and conditioner bottles. It seemed like it was time to go. Kadizzle did not want to be impolite so he explained both Kadizzle and The Commander were vegetarians and had to leave for treatment to their cancerous infested bodies. With a hint of anger the chief said "You took all our good land and left us with desert, now you offer us nothing but cancer infested meat, leave, it looks like we are vegetarians too now"

The Commander captures Sunset at Zion

Hiking in Zion, Angels Landing, and Emeral Pool

Today we took a quick hike up to the Emerald Pools. With plenty of run off the falls were in full glory.

Angel's landing death spot

If you click on the picture above it will enlarge. If you examine the picture closely you will see the most deadly spot on the trail. Far ahead on the trail is a person with blue on. Behind him is another person with blue. Between them is a very narrow spot where you could fall either way to your death. Apparently a woman fell last year. After you cross that spot you have to go right up the spine of the rock in front of the first person on the trail. Everyone in our family except Erin has done it. Kadizzle has done it several times. Yesterday however that spine was covered with snow. It always amazes Kadizzle that anyone would be allowed to do it when the trail is snow covered. Far and away Kadizzle would rate this the most dangerous hike open to the general public in the United States. The fact that two people per year get killed here proves that. However, and article claims the odds are 1 in 79,000 you will get killed. So that means roughly 160,000 people make it out there and back every year, which is amazing. The most incredible thing is to see people take small children out there. To the best of my knowledge no small child has yet made the 1,000 foot plunge to their death. When that day comes things will change.

The picture above is where you go up the spine ahead of the fist person in the first picture, however yesterday it had about six inches of snow on it.

Around the Firepit at Zion

A day never goes by on the road that you don't meet more nice people. Jim and Tracy from Oregon joined as at the fire last night. Jim took the nice photo above. Tracy brought some wonderful bread. A food devil infested Lord Kadizzle and he almost ate it all by himself. The Kadizzlites made the traditional hike up Angel's Landing. Kadizzle did not make the very last part of the ascent. Although he made it half way hanging onto the chains his bad knee was not up for the whole trip. Snow on the final part made it extremely dangerous. While on Angel's landing Kadizzle got a call from the assistant park manager. That is a whole long story in itself, but he did say at least two people per year are killed falling from Angel's Landing. Today with Jim, Tracy, and the gang we made the trek to the Emerald Pools. With the amount of moisture in Zion the stream was running well and the waterfall was spectacular.

Lord Kadizzles Marriage Service

In my home town of Wheeling, West Virgina, my sister Kate checked my records at the Ohio County Court House. My sister said the country records show Lord Kadizzle is still bonded as a minister. This means Lord Kadizzle can perform marriages under three legal concepts. Kadizzle is a municipal judge, a sea captain, and a licensed minister. Each of these certifications entitles him to perform weddings. So why go to Las Vegas, if you need a quick marriage. Why not get the triple special? It is customary to tip the priest, or Judge for that matter, so Kadizzle will accept generous gratuities for placing a couple in bondage. Kadizzle originally became a bonded minister in order to perform a marriage for some friends. The ceremony never took place. Additionally his eminence Lord Kadizzle has yet to perform a marriage under his authority as a judge. It would be nice to get this on his resume, so please someone step forward and marry the one you love.

Stymied at Zion by restrooms, or The rectum rules Zion

Kadizzle is a hard core liberal, but his experience at Zion National Park today certainly gave him insight into why conservatives think the government cannot do anything right. Prior to our drive to Zion today we checked the Zion web site. The web site indicated we could stay in the Watchman campground without a reservation. However when we reached the campground we were told it was full. After visiting Zion for five years at this time of year with no problems this seemed perplexing. A little investigation indicated there where sixty unused camping spots that were closed to the public because there was no one to clean the rest rooms. Kadizzle volunteered to clean the rest rooms, but this was to no avail. Campsites at Zion are $19 a night. So if the campground was open Zion could potentially make roughly $1,200 a night. It would seem like this would be enough to clean the rest rooms. Only the government could come to the conclusion the best thing to do was close the restroom and turn away campers. Of course when people are forced to leave the park because no camping is available it hurts the little towns like Springdale that rely on tourist for income. This is all being done when we are trying to stimulate the economy.

Often when these strange management decisions are made that make absolutely no sense, there is a hidden agenda. In this case it seems the National Park Service wants to irritate the public. The net result in the eyes of the Park Service is to get irritated citizens to complain to congress that the Park Service needs more funding. In other words if you give us some money, we can clean the restrooms, and you can camp. This is how the mind of a bureaucrat works. According to various park personnel there were a variety of reasons the campground was closed. All seemed suspicious. One person said they had to close the campground to spray weeds. In past years they would just rope off a couple of spots at a time and spray the weeds. Another person said it was due to irrigation. We have been here before and the irrigation ditches were running with no problem for the campers. Now, back to the restrooms being clean. Our camper has it's own restroom, like most campers do these days, so we could camp there and not even need the restroom. They could open the campground for self contained campers only. The audacity of the Park Service to so blatantly disregard the people they are meant to serve is astounding. Kadizzle likes to have faith in his government and the people who work for it, but this experience is making the most hard core liberal into a Rush Limbaugh lunatic.

At one time Kadizzle sought a career in Park Management. To this end he was in graduate school in West Virginia. To his amazement they actually taught him in graduate school the ins and outs of carefully pissing off the public. The first instance of this tactic he ever saw was at Bear Tooth Pass in Montana. The pass is a popular tourist place. At the top of the pass is a restroom. Almost everyone stops at the top of the pass to take advantage of the view, and use the restroom. One summer when we reached the top there was a big sign on the restroom. Guess who put it there? Yup the park serviced said the restroom was closed due to lack of funding. Later we found restrooms in very remote locations being taken care of and cleaned. It was evident this was a political move. One thing they taught us in graduate school about park management was that parks revolve around restrooms. People insist they are clean and available, and apparently they are the key political weapon. The park system does not have me by the balls, but apparently they have found something nearby that works equally well.

A Narrow Escape

In order to continue the trail at the Valley of Fire Ruth and Rodger had to sqeeze through the same narrow passage The Commander and Lord Kadizzle negotiated. The Commander made it with little effort, but Kadizzle made it with only two cheeseburgers to spare. Had Kadizzle eaten two more cheeseburgers he never would have met the challenge.

Pinned Down by weather

The Kadizlites have been pinned down in the Valley of Fire waiting for weather to break at Zion. The tribe almost decided to go to Death Valley yesterday, but cooler heads prevailed. Although the weather is almost perfect here today, it will be Friday or Thursday until we move north. The amount of snow and moisture has set records in the southwest this year.

Big Horn Sheep at Valley of Fire

As many times as we have been here, this is the first time we have seen big horn sheep high in the rocks here. It is amazing to see these sheep go straight up and down. In a minute they are a place it would take us an hour to get to. Next big move will be to Zion as soon as the weather breaks.

Today's Hike Just Ten Miles from Mexico

From the top of the mountain we could easily see into Mexico. Currently we are in the thriving metropolis of Why. A little West of Why we are in a park by the sorriest casino you have ever seen. There are about twenty propane slot machines with a couple of old ladies on respirators playing them. Any Indians that were not killed by the early diseases introduced by the white men are slowly being killed by potato chips and pop. The Indians here have a terrible diabetic problem. In the rest room the biological hazard container is full of needles that needs to be emptied. Tomorrow the band will head North toward Wickenburg.

What is the difference between right and left?

This is a must read by one of the best. Paul Krugman writes in today's New York Times about how a Republican wants to make sure everyone can inherit over 7 million dollars tax free while the same senator wants to deny unemployment to working people. If you want some serious insight into why our country has stopped working read the article.

Where are the Europeans?

Most years when we travel the Kadizzles meet some Germans or other European campers. For some reason they don't seem to be about this year. Could it be the economy? The Europeans have figured out a lot of things we are slow to learn. One thing they know is life has an end. Most Europeans are assured five weeks of vacation for most of their life. This enables them to travel and become more worldly at a younger age. Europeans value knowledge of the world. Americans seem to be very self centered and think the United States is the center of the universe. One thing Kadizzle always enjoys when meeting the Europeans is getting their view on our current politics. Universally they all had no use for Bush. Kadizzle has not really had a chance to have any discourse on their view of the current administration. Yesterday Kadizzle did meet one Dutchman. Typical of many Europeans we have met he owns a motorhome which he keeps in this country. It is a good way for Europeans to return year after year and visit. Traveling always presents an opportunity to open ones mind and meet people who see the world differently. What do Canadians or the French of the Dutch really think of their healthcare or social system. Nothing works better than to ask them directly. Does everyone on the planet envy us and want to move here. No, not really. We like to go to France, but most of us don't want to move there. We think we live in Nirvana, but that view will only persist until you find out other people live in different Nirvana's. One recent phenomenon that has invaded the United States is the round-about. Americans used to come back from Europe and remark about this crazy system for handling intersections. Now, Americans have gradually come to see the benefit of round abouts. Statistics show it is actually a safer way to build an intersection. Why can't we learn about health care the same way. European health care works, the statistics show it works, but we refuse to admit they have a system of taking care of their population that is successful. Someday we will do what works even if we did not invent the solution.